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Debates

We are generally not enthusiastic about debates. It’s not that we are afraid
of debating as we are confident in the truth of our position and creationists usually
do very well, as the track record of Dr Duane Gish (Institute for Creation Research,
USA) shows. However, it is often difficult to find an evolutionist of substance
who is willing to debate and a lesser advocate strangely makes the case for creation
look weaker (Some ask, ‘But would the arguments for creation look so good if
the evolutionist put his case competently?’). Also, a debate can be won not
by the truth but by rhetorical tricks (such as elephant hurling and equivocation—see
some examples in Argument: Evolution is true science, not
‘just a theory’), and so truth can be a casualty. Furthermore,
there is always limited time available for a presentation of the biblical creation
arguments, so it does not make sense to give half of it to an evolutionist to tell
people what they are hearing all the time anyway (via government-funded education,
museums and national parks and the media, whether government funded or not).

But we do debates at times. We have three major ones available so that folk can ‘hear
both sides’—in the proper sense where the debaters can hold each other
accountable (Proverbs 18:17):

1. Clash Over Origins: creation or evolution? 2006

Debate topic: ‘That evolution is a better explanation of the origin, diversity,
and history of life on earth than biblical creation’

For the affirmative: Dr Mark Farmer, professor of cellular biology, University of
Georgia, USA.

We accepted a public challenge by an outspoken evolutionist and Australian ‘Skeptic
of the Year’—science reporter and self-professed atheist, Dr Paul Willis.1 Over 1,100 people turned out to hear what the
host church billed as ‘The Great Debate.’

For the affirmative: Dr
Carl Wieland, a former medical doctor, now the Managing Director of Creation
Ministries International–Australia, and founding editor of Creation
magazine.

For the negative: Dr Paul Willis, an evolutionary paleontologist, now a science
reporter/broadcaster with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

Sponsor: Northside Christian Church, Brisbane.

Moderator: Dr Robert Herschel.

The DVD of the debate (not produced by CMI, and with some minor sync issues) is no longer marketed but copies may be used on occasion for giveaways. Contact your local CMI office as required. And it is viewable on CMI’ YouTube channel accessible via the media portal on this site.

Feedback

Many of the folk present at the Willis-Wieland debate filled in questionnaires designed
to gauge audience reaction. A significant number of those who were not already wholly-convinced
creationists said that they had moved towards being more creationist. For an analysis
of the audience questionnaires, see
Reaction to the debate.

The feedback has been very positive. Here’s a sample, which gives some idea
of why CMI is making the recordings of the debate available but not the Australian
Skeptics, who backed Willis as their chosen ‘champion of evolution’.

‘Dear staff/team:
I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the “The Great Debate” of
24 August 2003. If Paul Willis represents the best “ammunition” evolutionary
atheists can throw at [CMI], then the Skeptic Society is in serious trouble indeed!
There can be no doubt that Paul Willis was comprehensively thrashed in the debate
… . Carl demolished every argument this so-called champion of evolution could
throw at him.

‘To be frank—Willis’s performance was farcical; e.g. his citation
of the Coconino Sandstone formation and the “fossilized forests” at
Joggins, Nova Scotia as “proof” of an old earth. I was particularly
impressed that Carl demolished the above two examples of Willis, since Willis has
a doctorate in paleontology and one would expect that he would have made his strongest
points around geological/fossil evidence. And yet, by EVOLUTIONISTS’ own admissions,
the Coconino Sandstone formation is “yesterday’s geology”, and
the Joggins forest example is precisely what we find in the Mount Saint Helens/Spirit
Lake region (I am sure that evolutionists would love to date the geological data
in the Mount Saint Helens/Spirit Lake region to ‘millions of years’,
but I guess that even they are forced to accept that since this event was observed
in 1980, it is not millions of years old).

‘Overall, Willis simply did not even TRY to rebut most of Carl’s points
(I am sure much to the embarrassment of his fellow Skeptics in the audience); let
alone refute them. On the other hand, Carl easily refuted most of Willis’s
points (and the ones he didn’t refute were due to the sheer limited time factor).2

‘ … Willis claimed that the audience “had not heard one piece
of evidence for a literal Genesis creation” … Carl pointed out, in
reference to the helium in zircons (if significant amounts of helium are still in
“ancient” granite zircons, then these crystals (and since this is Precambrian
basement granite, by implication the whole earth) could not be older than between
4,000 and 14,000 years), if that is not evidence for a recent creation then I don’t
know what is!

‘I would be most interested to know how the Skeptics reported on the outcome
of this debate … they were humiliated by Carl and I personally doubt they
will be coming back for another shot (at least in a public forum where both sides
have the opportunity to present their cases) at [CMI] for a long time.

‘Congratulations to Carl and all the staff for putting the Skeptics firmly
in their place!’

We don’t like self-promotion, but we are happy if our efforts help people
to defend their faith and uphold the Bible against the increasingly common attacks
of our day.

3. Skeptics vs Creationists: a formal online debate

Topic: Did the universe and life evolve, or was it specially created in 6 days?

Notes

Dr Willis had, by his own admission, previously ‘crashed’
a CMI meeting in Sydney, Australia. After publicly haranguing and abusing the speaker
(and CMI/creationists in general) for using ‘lies’ and ‘deception’,
he issued repeated challenges to debate. Later, and quite independently, a large
Brisbane church decided to hold a creation/evolution debate. Paul Willis was put
forward as someone keen to debate creationists, and accepted their invitation, which
all happened before the church approached CMI. Return to text.

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